Open Science Fundamentals in 2 Minutes, Part 4
Prior to a research paper being published in a journal, you can make it accessible for anyone to view at no cost. You can do this on your personal website, or utilize a preprint server like psyarxiv.com, where fellow researchers also publish their preprints, which is backed by the OSF and will remain operational for the foreseeable future, plus it facilitates the discovery of others’ research.
Preprint servers have been utilized for many years in physics, but they are increasingly prevalent across various academic fields. Preprints expedite the sharing of your research, which is particularly crucial for early career researchers. Preprints are citable, and indexing platforms like Google Scholar will link your preprint citations with the record of your eventual journal article.
Preprints also allow for the evaluation of work (and the identification of mistakes) prior to final publication.
What occurs when my paper is published?
Your work remains accessible in preprint format, meaning there is a freely available version, resulting in a larger audience for reading and citing it. If you upload a manuscript version after it has been approved for publication, that is referred to as a post-print.
What about copyright?
Typically, journals own the formatted, typeset version of your published manuscript. This is why you are often prohibited from uploading the PDF of this to your own website or a preprint server, but there’s nothing preventing you from uploading a version that contains the same text (the formatting may differ, but the content remains unchanged).
Will journals reject my paper if it has already been “published” as a preprint?
Most journals permit, or even promote, preprints. A diminishing few do not. If you wish, you can look up specific journal policies here.
Am I at risk of being scooped?
Preprints enable you to timestamp your research before publication, thereby establishing precedence on findings, which helps protect against being scooped. Naturally, if you have a project where you prefer to keep your research under wraps until published, preprints may not be appropriate.
When should I upload a preprint?
Post a preprint at the time of submission to a journal, and with each subsequent submission and upon acceptance (creating a postprint).
What prevents individuals from uploading subpar work to a preprint server?
There are no restrictions against this, but since maintaining a reputation for quality work is one of the most valuable assets for a scholar, I do not advise it.
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